SPEAKER_00: Well, at Christmas we worship the birth of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And when we identify the one born on that first Christmas morning as Jesus Christ, you understand what the word Christ means.
SPEAKER_00: It means it's just a transliterated word.
SPEAKER_00: It means it's from the Greek language, Christos.
SPEAKER_00: It's brought into English just without even translating it, just rendering the letters over as Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's a title.
SPEAKER_00: It's not his last name.
SPEAKER_00: Mary's last name wasn't Christ, and so Jesus got it.
SPEAKER_00: It's a title.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a title with a specific meaning that's found in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: The word means Messiah, or to really translate it would be anointed one.
SPEAKER_00: What it means to be anointed, we don't do anointing in our country, really.
SPEAKER_00: What it means to be anointed is to be really sworn in, to be identified for a specific office.
SPEAKER_00: So the closest we have in America would be kind of an inauguration.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the president-elect puts his hand on the Bible and, you know, takes an oath and he's inaugurated.
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of what's meant with anointing.
SPEAKER_00: It was something that God established in the Old Testament to consecrate somebody for a specific work or specific office.
SPEAKER_00: It was to identify someone as a leader that God had installed to be over his people.
SPEAKER_00: Can you think of who the first person in the Bible was to be anointed?
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't a king.
SPEAKER_00: The first person in the Bible to be anointed, and you can just before the Lord know that if you got it right in your heart or not, were the high priests in Exodus 29 and Exodus 30.
SPEAKER_00: They were the first people that God said should be anointed.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, that whole section, Exodus 29 through Exodus 30, describes the mixture of oils and how the oils and perfume would be made, how they'd be put on the priest's head.
SPEAKER_00: And that separated the one priest from all of the others, and that priest would be the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: But priests weren't the only ones to be anointed.
SPEAKER_00: Kings were to be anointed.
SPEAKER_00: And for a really tricky question, I would be shocked if any of you get right.
SPEAKER_00: Can you think of who the first king was in the Bible to be anointed?
SPEAKER_00: And some of you are saying Jesus because you're so trained on the Sunday school answer, but it was not Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Although that answer is coming up, don't worry, we'll get to the question where the right answer is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The first king in the Bible to be anointed is actually a fictional king.
SPEAKER_00: It was a tree.
SPEAKER_00: In Judges chapter 9, a prophet tells a fictional story about trees getting in an argument in the forest, and the trees decide that they need another to rule over them.
SPEAKER_00: And so they ask the olive tree, can we anoint you as the king?
SPEAKER_00: And the olive tree says no.
SPEAKER_00: And they asked the fig tree, and the fig tree says, I like my figs too much.
SPEAKER_00: And so they ask a thornbush, and they say, Thornbush, will you be our king?
SPEAKER_00: And the thornbush says yes.
SPEAKER_00: And so the olive tree and the fig tree anoint the thornbush as their king.
SPEAKER_00: You probably didn't know that story.
SPEAKER_00: It's Judges chapter 9.
SPEAKER_00: It has a dramatic ending, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: After the thornbush is anointed king, the whole forest burns down.
SPEAKER_00: So it's just kind of, and the prophet leaves.
SPEAKER_00: So it's like, okay, no sequel there.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone's dead.
SPEAKER_00: Move along.
SPEAKER_00: The first human king to be anointed was Saul, anointed by Samuel.
SPEAKER_00: That didn't go well.
SPEAKER_00: So then as Saul anointed, uh Samuel anointed David.
SPEAKER_00: It was round two of this.
SPEAKER_00: That went better.
SPEAKER_00: He was the righteous king, the rightful king.
SPEAKER_00: And the stories go on and on.
SPEAKER_00: The kings were anointed one after another, longing for the day when the true king of Israel, who would be called the Messiah, the real anointed one, would come.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, even before Saul was anointed, Samuel records Hannah's prayer, and Hannah prays that God would send a true anointed king to rule over Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Not like Saul, who wasn't even king yet, not even like David, who had sin, but a true, sinless king to reign over their people who would be called the anointed one, who'd be called the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: You know, prophets were anointed.
SPEAKER_00: Elisha was anointed.
SPEAKER_00: Elisha had King Jehu anointed, which is my favorite anointed story in the whole Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: If you remember how Jehu was going to be the king of Israel, was anointed, Elisha sent a messenger, some like, you know, seminary student to go anoint Jehu, and he's at a war council surrounded by all of his leaders, and this prophet's messenger asks to speak with the king privately, and they're in a, you know, it's complicated.
SPEAKER_00: They're in the war council, so they step into a closet together, and the messenger anoints him with oil and says, You're the king of Israel, and you're the rightful king.
SPEAKER_00: And then the messenger runs out of the closet and leaves.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jehu walks back out into his war council.
SPEAKER_00: He's got oil dripping all over him.
SPEAKER_00: And the generals are around the table, and they say, What was that about?
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Oh, you know how those crazy prophets are.
SPEAKER_00: Don't pay any attention to them.
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, dude, you have oil all over you.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Okay, he said, I'm the king.
SPEAKER_00: And they all fall down on their knees and pledge allegiance to him.
SPEAKER_00: It's an insane scene.
SPEAKER_00: But we understand the real priest, the real king, and the real prophet that the Old Testament was looking forward to, the one who combines all three of those offices, prophet, priest, and king, would be anointed as the ruler of Israel, and that, the true anointed one, is the Messiah, and that is, now it's a Sunday school answer, that is, oh man, so good.
SPEAKER_00: So good.
SPEAKER_00: But now I have a harder question for you.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus is the Messiah, if he is the truly anointed one, when was he anointed?
SPEAKER_00: When did people gather together and anoint him as the anointed one?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if his if his title is Jesus the Christ, when was he actually anointed?
SPEAKER_00: And there's lots of different ways to answer that question.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, the most obvious answer is when God himself anointed Jesus at his baptism, the Holy Spirit came onto him, the dove landed on him, separating him, consecrating him, the voice from heaven said, This is my son with whom I'm well pleased.
SPEAKER_00: Do what he says, listen to him.
SPEAKER_00: And so clearly the Father identifies Jesus as the rightful Messiah through that act of anointing.
SPEAKER_00: It's better than oil.
SPEAKER_00: He was anointed with the Holy Spirit himself.
SPEAKER_00: But there is an occasion where people did anoint Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: One person in particular.
SPEAKER_00: So I want you to open your Bibles there, and this will become a Christmas message soon enough.
SPEAKER_00: It is Matthew chapter 26.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 26.
SPEAKER_00: It's page 831 in those red pew Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 26.
SPEAKER_00: This is the very end of Jesus' life.
SPEAKER_00: So we began our service tonight reading about the birth of Jesus and reading about the wise men who brought Jesus' gifts.
SPEAKER_00: And now we end Jesus' life, the last week of his life.
SPEAKER_00: This is on a Saturday night, this scene takes place.
SPEAKER_00: It's Matthew 26, verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is in Bethany.
SPEAKER_00: It's the next Sunday morning where he's going to have his entrance into Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: So Bethany is towards Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: It's just outside of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: The next morning, Jesus is going to enter into the city.
SPEAKER_00: The Sabbath, the Saturday Sabbath is over.
SPEAKER_00: The Jews wouldn't be moving around on Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: But as the sun sets, the Jews would get together to close out their Sabbath together.
SPEAKER_00: It's that kind of party.
SPEAKER_00: This is the last Saturday night of Jesus' life.
SPEAKER_00: And he's gathered together with friends.
SPEAKER_00: And this story has always reminded me a little bit of Christmas Eve because it is Jesus with his closest friends, those who he considers his family.
SPEAKER_00: They're together.
SPEAKER_00: The next morning is going to be the introduction of the Messiah to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is going to enter Jerusalem, riding on the donkey.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to be proclaimed to be their king.
SPEAKER_00: Hosanna in the highest, all of that.
SPEAKER_00: But the night before that introduction, Jesus is with some friends.
SPEAKER_00: This is described in Matthew, Mark, and John.
SPEAKER_00: When you take all three accounts together, you get kind of a full picture.
SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus' closest friends, including Mary.
SPEAKER_00: Mary, the sister of Martha, the two women that were often waiting on Jesus and serving Jesus, Lazarus's sister.
SPEAKER_00: Lazarus, remember, was dead, and Jesus resurrected him.
SPEAKER_00: Lazarus is here, of course.
SPEAKER_00: John lets us know that.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, what a guest list, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: You got Lazarus who's been dead.
SPEAKER_00: I bet everybody's crowded around Lazarus.
SPEAKER_00: What was it like?
SPEAKER_00: And he's probably upset at them.
SPEAKER_00: Why'd you bring me back?
SPEAKER_00: Mary and Martha are there.
SPEAKER_00: Mary listening to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Martha running around everywhere?
SPEAKER_00: Probably, I'm just guessing.
SPEAKER_00: The house that they do this at in verse 6 lets you know.
SPEAKER_00: It was the house of Simon the leper.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know much about Simon beyond what's here.
SPEAKER_00: I do know this though, lepers don't host house parties.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, leprosy is highly contagious and way more way more contagious and way more lethal than COVID.
SPEAKER_00: So just bring in our own COVID language to this, like, oh, it's the house of Simon who had COVID.
SPEAKER_00: There's a raging party at the COVID guy's house.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you would deduce from that whatever else you'd say about Simon, he has COVID no longer, right?
SPEAKER_00: Whatever else you want to say about Simon, he is a leper no more.
SPEAKER_00: Highly contagious, lethal, unclean.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus, of course, healed him.
SPEAKER_00: And because there's no other way to be healed.
SPEAKER_00: There's no other way to get rid of leprosy.
SPEAKER_00: Leprosy kills everybody it gets.
SPEAKER_00: But this guy is a leper no more because he knew Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So he's probably over there with Lazarus.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, if you were a leper and you were healed by Jesus, I think I would demand that people still refer to you as the leper.
SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Simon the leper, just to watch their responses.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the party.
SPEAKER_00: John says they were reclining at the table.
SPEAKER_00: That's something you do when you're with friends.
SPEAKER_00: You rely in the Jewish world.
SPEAKER_00: You sit down and you recline, like after you have a meal.
SPEAKER_00: You lay your heads on each other's chest.
SPEAKER_00: Americans don't do that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: It'd be very weird and creepy.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do it at your Christmas Eve party tonight.
SPEAKER_00: But the Jews would do that.
SPEAKER_00: They would lay down around the table and you'd lay your head down on your friend's chest or even in his lap.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't weird for the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they did.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's what's happening here.
SPEAKER_00: John lets us know.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's laying around the table after their meal.
SPEAKER_00: Again, it's Jesus' last Saturday night alive.
SPEAKER_00: And it's kind of a festive atmosphere.
SPEAKER_00: But the atmosphere changes rather dramatically in verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: When a woman came up to him, and we find out that this is Mary, Martha's sister, Lazarus' sister, who does this.
SPEAKER_00: She comes up to him with an alabaster flask, a very expensive ointment.
SPEAKER_00: We find out from Mark that this would be 300 denarii.
SPEAKER_00: That's the day's wages for a day laborer for 300 days.
SPEAKER_00: A denera is a day's wage for a day laborer.
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, 150 bucks, let's say it might cost a day laborer to work for you for a day.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, who knows?
SPEAKER_00: 200 bucks.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, 150 bucks, let's just say.
SPEAKER_00: So you're talking like$35,000 is what this perfume costs.
SPEAKER_00: It's incredible.
SPEAKER_00: But we don't have anything like that really in our American culture.
SPEAKER_00: But the Jews did, and the Roman Empire had expanded into India, and they had very high quality and a high, very costly perfume from the Middle East and even India that was there, and it was a way to pass along wealth through your family.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is a big deal, this kind of perfume.
SPEAKER_00: And Mary has it.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know much about Mary and Martha's family.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they were wealthy.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they had like four of them on the shelf, or maybe she had saved up money for a long time for this.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it was given to them.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't used at Lazarus' funeral, we know that.
SPEAKER_00: When Lazarus died, he was not anointed with this perfume, because remember what Mary said about him?
SPEAKER_00: My lord, by now he stinks.
SPEAKER_00: So there's no$30,000 perfume involved with Lazarus' death.
SPEAKER_00: But she brings it out now.
SPEAKER_00: And you would use this for somebody's death.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's the function of this kind of perfume.
SPEAKER_00: You'd use it at somebody's death, and she takes it and she poured it.
SPEAKER_00: Mark says she breaks the neck of it.
SPEAKER_00: She says, You broke the perfume bottle.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's all going out now.
SPEAKER_00: She's not a dab on the wrists here.
SPEAKER_00: She breaks$35,000 of perfume and oil mixed together.
SPEAKER_00: Ointment is the word that's used here in the ESV.
SPEAKER_00: And she pours that mixture on his head.
SPEAKER_00: That's how you anoint someone.
SPEAKER_00: She breaks this oil, pours it on his head as he's reclining at the table.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples saw this and they were indignant.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word there literally means they were hot with anger.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples were hacked about this.
SPEAKER_00: What is happening?
SPEAKER_00: The mood totally changes.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this is not this is not a normal routine at a party.
SPEAKER_00: This would be shocking.
SPEAKER_00: People are gathered together in a festive atmosphere, and here comes Mary breaking a ridiculously expensive bottle of perfume mixed with oil, dumping it over Jesus' head.
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples lose their mind.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Notice what they say.
SPEAKER_00: Why this waste?
SPEAKER_00: They perceive it as wasteful.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, they go on to say, this could have been sold for a large sum of money and given to the poor.
SPEAKER_00: The other gospels let us know that it was Judas that said this first, but Matthew lets us know that everybody else piled on with this.
SPEAKER_00: Judas suddenly became concerned about poverty.
SPEAKER_00: Judas, who's stealing from the money bag, we know that, he's stealing Jesus' money when Jesus isn't watching, suddenly is very concerned that this massive amount of perfume wasn't liquidated with the assets given to the poor.
SPEAKER_00: These people were totally fine at a party receiving other people's generosity.
SPEAKER_00: They were totally fine with the nice food.
SPEAKER_00: When they were receiving it, they were stoked about it.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, how generous these people are.
SPEAKER_00: They're giving me whatever I want to eat.
SPEAKER_00: But the second it got used somewhere else other than them, they were upset, and of course, they were concerned for the poor.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you can tell by the way I said that.
SPEAKER_00: I don't really buy that it was the poor they were concerned about.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted the money for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you were thoughtful, you would deduce that Mary is preparing Jesus' body for burial.
SPEAKER_00: Now we know that because Jesus says that.
SPEAKER_00: Look down at verse 12, in pouring this ointment on my body.
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus speaking.
SPEAKER_00: She has done it to prepare me for burial.
SPEAKER_00: Mary has been listening, where the disciples have not.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has been saying for several months now that he was going to Jerusalem to die.
SPEAKER_00: Several months ago, he was up in Galilee, 100 plus miles away, and he starts walking to Jerusalem, and he's telling all of his disciples, I'm going to Jerusalem to die.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I'm going there.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going, the Son of Man's going to be surrendered over, given over.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees will betray him, convict him.
SPEAKER_00: The Romans will crucify him.
SPEAKER_00: He says he's going to be crucified on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: He's telling them very clearly, in fact, earlier in Matthew chapter 26.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: You're probably open to it.
SPEAKER_00: You know that in two days the Passover is coming.
SPEAKER_00: So this is before the perfume thing.
SPEAKER_00: This is on Wednesday or Tuesday or Wednesday.
SPEAKER_00: And the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is telling them, I'm going to die on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: And the disciples are saying, No, you're not.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember what Peter says?
SPEAKER_00: No way, Jesus, over my dead body.
SPEAKER_00: But Mary, precious Mary, has been listening.
SPEAKER_00: And so now the last week of Jesus' life is beginning.
SPEAKER_00: Saturday night starts the first day of the week in the Jewish calendar.
SPEAKER_00: It's the last week of Jesus' life.
SPEAKER_00: And Mary is heartbroken.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Mary was, Martha and Mary were weeping at Lazarus' death.
SPEAKER_00: They were longing for Jesus to come.
SPEAKER_00: It was them who said, Jesus, if you had been here, Lazarus wouldn't have died.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they loved Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: These two women did.
SPEAKER_00: They loved him.
SPEAKER_00: And they know he's going to die this week.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples have either argued with Jesus about it or just refused to believe it.
SPEAKER_00: But Mary is in a position where she's going to do all that she can.
SPEAKER_00: She wants to repair his body to be buried.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus in verse 10 is aware of all of this.
SPEAKER_00: He knows all of this.
SPEAKER_00: And he sticks up for Mary, the disciples, these 12 knuckleheads harping on Mary.
SPEAKER_00: Why do you trouble the woman?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus asks them.
SPEAKER_00: She has done a beautiful thing to me.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus sticks up for Mary, defends her.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus makes a comment about the poor you all has always have with you.
SPEAKER_00: You won't always have me.
SPEAKER_00: He's quoting Leviticus.
SPEAKER_00: It says, if you keep the Levitical law, the poor will no longer be in the lands.
SPEAKER_00: However, the Jews will never keep the law, and so the poor will always be with them.
SPEAKER_00: And then he gets back to his own body.
SPEAKER_00: And pouring this ointment on me, she's done it to prepare me for burial.
SPEAKER_00: Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.
SPEAKER_00: There's no other line like this.
SPEAKER_00: There's no other line like this in Jesus' teaching.
SPEAKER_00: He never said that about anybody else.
SPEAKER_00: He never looked at something Peter did and said, Well, that's incredible, Peter.
SPEAKER_00: Wherever the gospel goes in the whole world, I'm gonna make sure everybody knows about this.
SPEAKER_00: Peter did incredible things.
SPEAKER_00: He walked on water, of course, to meet Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He never doesn't say this kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: But he says it from Mary.
SPEAKER_00: Wherever the gospel goes, there's so much packed into this little closing verse here, verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, the gospel is going to be proclaimed in the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: That's noteworthy.
SPEAKER_00: This is the last use of the word gospel in in Matthew's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew's gospel begins Jesus' ministry back in Matthew chapter 4 by saying Jesus came preaching the gospel, the good news of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is a gospel preacher, he's proclaiming it.
SPEAKER_00: Now Jesus' life ends, and this is his closing declaration of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, it's going to go all over the world.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples didn't have a grid for that.
SPEAKER_00: They were still holding on, so Sunday come around, Jesus goes into Jerusalem, overthrows in Romans, and Jerusalem becomes the capital of the world.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they were angling for.
SPEAKER_00: Even though Jesus said, I'm going to go to Jerusalem and be killed.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, yeah, but maybe you'll win the recount.
SPEAKER_00: And here Jesus says, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: The gospel's going to go all over the world.
SPEAKER_00: Through his own death, of course.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying that.
SPEAKER_00: She's preparing my bottle, my body for burial.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, I'm going to die.
SPEAKER_00: I will be buried.
SPEAKER_00: That's what she's doing.
SPEAKER_00: And the whole world's going to hear about it.
SPEAKER_00: The whole world will hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And what she's done will also be told in memory of her.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what she's done, it's more than just preparing Jesus' body for burial.
SPEAKER_00: There's expensive perfume.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is going to resurrect on three days.
SPEAKER_00: That's less time than Lazarus was in the grave.
SPEAKER_00: But what she's doing is she's anointing him.
SPEAKER_00: She's making a public declaration.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: Peter had already said, you're the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You're the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: Peter declared it.
SPEAKER_00: The crowd heard it at the baptism.
SPEAKER_00: But until now, nobody had anointed him.
SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned, we don't know where the oil comes from.
SPEAKER_00: Lots of theories.
SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the leading theories is on where the oil comes from?
SPEAKER_00: The wise men.
SPEAKER_00: They brought oil.
SPEAKER_00: They brought burial spices.
SPEAKER_00: The wise men did.
SPEAKER_00: Frankincense and myrrh.
SPEAKER_00: Myrrh would be used as a burial spice.
SPEAKER_00: A very strange baby gift.
SPEAKER_00: You don't get somebody a headstone for a baby shower.
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of what's happening here.
SPEAKER_00: The wise men brought burial spices, and now at the end of Jesus' life, his body is anointed for burial.
SPEAKER_00: This demonstrates, for all who have ears to hear, that he is the true Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He is the true Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: He's not one king from the line of David.
SPEAKER_00: He's the king.
SPEAKER_00: He's not one of God's prophets.
SPEAKER_00: The prophets prophesied up until John.
SPEAKER_00: He is the prophet.
SPEAKER_00: He's not one of the priests, and there will be others as well.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: He is the priest.
SPEAKER_00: The high priest who will go right into the court of heaven itself.
SPEAKER_00: To forgive us of our sins.
SPEAKER_00: So, how does this all come together?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' life begins with the burial spices brought by the Magi, brought by the wise men, to demonstrate that this child was born to live a life.
SPEAKER_00: This child truly is a king.
SPEAKER_00: The magi brought gold.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna live a holy life, he's gonna live a remarkable life.
SPEAKER_00: There's not enough ink in the whole world to describe all the wonderful things Jesus did in his life.
SPEAKER_00: But all of his life is building towards his death.
SPEAKER_00: In his death, he takes upon our sins.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word Jesus is used, Jesus uses here.
SPEAKER_00: In his death, he takes our sins on himself.
SPEAKER_00: We've sinned against God.
SPEAKER_00: We've committed sins against God that demand punishment and demand judgment.
SPEAKER_00: We can't pay for our own sins.
SPEAKER_00: Good people don't go to heaven when they die.
SPEAKER_00: There's no such thing as a truly good person.
SPEAKER_00: You understand that.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody has sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: If you've sinned one time, that means you're deserving of God's judgment.
SPEAKER_00: God is a holy judge and a just judge and cannot simply overlook sins because other times you didn't mean to sin, or other times you tried harder to do better, or what have you.
SPEAKER_00: God's too perfect of a judge for that.
SPEAKER_00: So we stand condemned, rightfully condemned, because we're aware of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: The good news is that Jesus is the true Messiah, the true Savior, who through his miraculous birth and his sinless life can be our substitute in his death.
SPEAKER_00: He can take our sins on himself.
SPEAKER_00: He can be punished by God for our sins as God pours out the wrath that we deserved on Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus on that cross can bear the penalty that we deserve.
SPEAKER_00: He can be buried into the grave, put into the cave, stone rolled in front of him, put into the grave for three days.
SPEAKER_00: And on the third day, he rises from the grave, reanimates his body, brings his physical body back to life, transforms it into a resurrection body.
SPEAKER_00: The stone is rolled away.
SPEAKER_00: He is resurrected in glorious life, truly identified as the king.
SPEAKER_00: And he is ascended into heaven where he stays at this moment, making intercession like a high priest would, making intercession before God, pleading for us who would believe in him, so that God will not punish us when we die, but rather takes our punishment having it nailed to the cross of Christ, forgives us through our faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the gospel that will be preached to the whole world through Mary's declaration that Jesus is the true Savior.
SPEAKER_00: His life begins with anointing.
SPEAKER_00: The middle of it, he's anointed by the Holy Spirit at his baptism, and the end of it, he's anointed by Mary for his burial.
SPEAKER_00: He had a miraculous birth, a supernatural, divinely spirit-filled life, and then a miraculous death, anointed for burial as the true Savior.
SPEAKER_00: He's the true King.
SPEAKER_00: And whoever places their faith in him can join Mary's song, can join Mary's proclamation in saying that Jesus was born, he was born to lead a sinless life, he was born to die, he died to resurrect, and he resurrected so that we can have our sins forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: If you're visiting tonight, if you're new at Emmanuel, if you're new in the area, if you're here with friends or with family members, I would beg you, I would plead with you to think through your relationship with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps you were drug here unwillingly with the promise of cookies afterwards.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to take this moment in your heart, to think through the reality of your own sin, to think through the reality that you have been an enemy to God in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And to be thankful that Jesus, the Messiah, can take your sin away from you.
SPEAKER_00: That He's the true anointed one, the one given by God to the world to be our priest, to be our king, to be our prophet.
SPEAKER_00: God, we're grateful that you had a miraculous birth, worshipped by angels, separated by providence as you fled to Egypt, but before then adored by the wise men, receiving gifts to mark your life, gold for a king, frankincense for a priest, myrrh for burial.
SPEAKER_00: And now we see Mary.
SPEAKER_00: Our hearts are filled with really love and awe of Mary, her perception.
SPEAKER_00: She saw what others didn't.
SPEAKER_00: They were enjoying the evening, and she saw a body that was going to be buried.
SPEAKER_00: The one whom she loved.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, our hearts are with Mary's.
SPEAKER_00: We love you, and we're thankful for your death.
SPEAKER_00: More than that, we're thankful for your resurrection and the new life that you offered, the resurrection life that you offer for all who would believe this message.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that there would be people here tonight that put their faith in you through this.
SPEAKER_00: I give you thanks for this in Jesus' name.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And now for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our service times and church information are on our website at ibc.church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: location, go to tms.edu.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with boldness.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord bless you.